1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mechanical and electronic devices used in physical training, and more specifically to various embodiments of devices providing for the training and enhancement of balance and proprioception in athletes and others. The devices require a person to balance atop an unstable platform, with the platform being electronically connected to feedback means enabling the user to determine his or her ability readily. The devices may include dampers, limiting means, and variable resistance means, which generally provide for adjustment for different levels of skill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various relatively simple yet challenging devices requiring balance and coordination have been developed in the past, generally along the lines of the teeter board or the like, wherein a flat board is placed upon a cylindrical roller and the user attempts to stand on the board and maintain the board in as close to a level position as possible. While such a device is definitely capable of improving one's balance and proprioception with practice, no feedback or quantification of the results is provided.
On the other hand, various spherical or roller type devices have been developed which include electronic means communicating with some form of feedback (e.g., computer monitor) to enable a person to position a cursor or the like accurately on a screen. Such devices are relatively small and light, and in any case generally fail to provide any indication of the tilt of the unit from the horizontal, which function is a requirement of the present invention. While at least one game has been developed which provides electronic feedback or indication of balance, there is no further similarity between such a game and the balance and proprioception training and enhancement devices of the present invention. The various differences and distinctions between the present invention and the prior art of which the inventors are aware, are discussed in detail immediately below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,464 issued to Ronaki E. Rider on Sep. 10, 1974 describes a Position Indicator For A Display System, comprising a sphere which is adapted to roll over an underlying surface and a generally hemispherical shell thereover. The shell includes at least a pair of orthogonally disposed potentiometers connected to wheels which bear against the sphere, which provide variable voltage signals to drive a cursor or the like on a screen. The device is essentially a precursor of the well known computer "mouse." While the device provides output relating to Cartesian coordinates, no means is provided for the determination of angular tilt relative to the horizontal in any direction, as provided by the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,488 issued to Kakunosuke Akiyama on Oct. 24, 1978 describes a Step-On Type Tone Scale Play Device, comprising a pad containing a plurality of membrane type contact switches therein which correspond to the musical scale. The switches are connected to an audio frequency generating device, which provides the corresponding tone when a specific one(s) of the contact switches are closed. The only similarity of the device to the present invention is the provision of a surface for the user to stand upon. No means is provided for the user to tilt the pad or mat surface from the horizontal, nor to determine the tilt of the mat from the horizontal should such action occur, nor to provide any visual feedback of such tilt or any other phenomenon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,476 issued to Tom R. Luque on Sep. 3, 1985 describes a Cursor Control Assembly having a rotatable sphere which is secured within a fixed base. Two rotating traction wheels driving the sensor means are positioned orthogonally and substantially at the equator of the ball, with a third support wheel positioned opposite the two sensor wheels, substantially equidistant between the two and slightly below the equator. This arrangement provides support of the sphere using only three points. However, such an arrangement is not suitable for use in the present invention, where all support must be well away from the equator of the spherical shapes used, in order to permit sufficient room for significant tilt from the horizontal. Moreover, the three points provided by Luque are not equally spaced from one another, and cannot provide the uniform support required in the present device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,476 issued to Rudolph Talamantez, Sr. on Sep. 15, 1987 describes a Ball-And-Target Game With Tiltable Playing Surface Therefor, wherein a ball is placed loosely between a pair of parallel flat surfaces. A goal with a series of contact switches thereon is centered between the two surfaces. The object is for the player to tilt the game board to remotely cause the ball to trip the contact switches to run up a score. The two surfaces between which the ball is captured are fixed relative to one another, unlike the present device, and the ball is free to move, unlike the fixed substantially hemispherical shapes acting as central pivots in the embodiments of the present device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,950 issued to Paul E. Goo on Apr. 4, 1989 describes a Video Game Control Unit And Attitude Sensor, comprising a surfboard mounted on an inverted hemispherical support. The Support includes a pneumatic toroidal shape (inner tube or the like) therearound to damp movement. An attitude sensing switch is enclosed within the hemisphere, to provide signals when the board, hemisphere, and switch are tilted. However, the switch means is purely binary, either on or off, and only four orthogonally placed contacts are provided. The present training device is adapted to provide fine feedback by video means of the degree of tilt in any direction by means of infinitely variable rheostat switches or other switch means capable of detecting infinitesimal changes, thus enabling the user to incrementally control a cursor on a monitor screen, rather than the off/on switch format of the Goo surfboard simulator.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,419 issued to Willie L. Streeter on Apr. 23, 1991 describes a Microcomputer Controlled Rotation Game comprising a plurality of hand and foot operated pressure switches installed within a fixed base. The switches are manipulated by the player of the game in accordance with any one of several variations, either against another player or against randomly generated indications of the game itself. The object is to repeat specific patterns or orders of switch actuation, or to devise patterns or orders and require another player to duplicate them. No tilt means or attitude variation is provided, and the switches are strictly binary in nature, rather than providing infinitesimal incremental indications, as in the present device.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.